Nominated for three Academy Awards, including Best Music – Motion Picture Score, Drama or Comedy, Bambi is a true big-screen animated classic. Long before audiences introduced Aladdin, The Lion King or Finding Nemo, Walt Disney single-handedly conjured the animated feature film out of thin air and turned it into an enduring and highly respected genre, creating one family classic after another, beginning with Snow White. (1937), then Pinocchio (1940), Fantasia (1940), and Dumbo (1941) before creating this gem in 1942. Directed by David Hand, longtime Disney animator and supervising director of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Bambi it is a masterpiece of color, movement and the beauty of life. Its relative simplicity harkens back to a time long past when such films focused on symbolism, emotional breadth, and pushed the boundaries of artistic creativity, rather than catering to a perceived audience demographic. The result is a truly extraordinary and memorable family experience…
Bambi begins with the birth in the woods of a young fawn (Bambi) who comes into the world surrounded by an eager crowd of admirers. Hailed as the “great prince of the forest”, Bambi is immersed in an exotic world of plant and animal life, complete with all the ups and downs experienced in the world of reality. One of the most powerful scenes in the film (and the one most frequently referenced in connection with Bambi) is when the dreaded “man” (i.e., a band of hunters) enters the forest and kills Bambi’s mother. Bambi. Although the scene takes place off-camera, Disney manages to convey all the emotional trauma of the event in the brevity of a few bold and powerful brushstrokes.
As Bambi seeks to recover from the death of his mother, he must learn to go from clumsy fawn to fearless macho. The charming scenes of Bambi stumbling across a frozen pond are soon overshadowed by the power of him maturing into a formidable leader. He helps him on his journey through a parade of unique personalities, the most notable of which is a rabbit named Thumper. Thumper’s vocal speed and his eagerness to befriend Bambi threaten to steal the show, but the growing stag never loses his well-deserved spotlight. He throws in a skunk named Flower and a beautiful doe named Faline (Bambi’s love interest), and the film comes together in its own right, creating a combination of tragedy and triumph that all ages can enjoy…
In stark contrast to its contemporary peers, Bambi is a refreshing departure from today’s highly commercial animated features. Although Thumper provides much-needed comic relief, the film is more than just an avalanche of juvenile one-liners, and features absolutely zero fart jokes. Instead, Bambi wraps a timeless story of a lifetime’s journey into adulthood in the majesty of Mother Nature. His clever illustration of a forest teeming with wildlife and the dangers its inhabitants face is truly impressive. In short, Bambi has all the makings of a tinsel town classic, one that should make today’s Disney creations completely green with envy…